my mentor and my tormentor

Lately I've been feeling slightly tormented by a duality in my life whereby I'm physically made uncomfortable by things around me left incomplete, dangling, or disorganized, but I firmly believe that that feeling it is a key to my success.

also, more blogatron

I launched a (loosely) tech-related blog on my website, ComputersWTF.com, which has a lot more writing than this personal, more directionless rant of a blog.

the sharing of the mind

I took my bandmates to Mindshare in downtown LA tonight. None of us had previously been to the monthly multimedia event, and it was AMAZING. It's in a huge space, next door to my friend's apartment on 7th between Spring and Broadway, and it's packed with interesting, talkative, friendly people. I'd say it's a mash-up of literary salon, TED conference, and Burningman, with a travelogue component that's not unlike talking to a wide-eyed backpacker you meet on a train in the middle of some rural, random country. It's designed to encourage idea sharing, and they have giveaways that foster conversation- like putting different stickers on everyone's name tags (if you find one that matches yours you both go to the welcome table to claim prizes). All attendees I spoke with were having a blast, including the band, who were equally impressed.

Doug Campbell, a co-founder, spoke about his trip to Bolivia and Chile recently, and shared his experiences being caught in the 8+ Chilean earthquake at an underground dance club. He said the three things he did to prepare for the trip, once he decided he was going somewhere and that his destination would be Bolivia: 1) 4-hours worth of Spanish lessons, 2) Obtain motorcycle license 3) 10-days at Vipassana on the way to Bolivia, so he'd emerge from silence immersed in a Spanish-speaking culture.

We heard from Gerard Minakawa, an artist (and impeccable public speaker) who works with bamboo, and builds amazing natural sculptures and structures (you probably saw his spider at the Natural History Museum).

Also, this incredible music video/commercial in stop-motion. You don't even know. Not since the Sony Bravia campaign [1, 2] have I been so impressed with an ad.

A filmmaker spoke about her four years in Africa, when she went to Sierra Leone to document the life story of a diamond- from it's discovery deep underground by a child miner all the way up to the jewelery it becomes. What touched me most about her talk was the angle she came to on wanting to help but not wanting to foster a dependent relationship. She was living there, working to help build schools, donating money (to, say, pay teachers salaries or buy supplies), and eventually began a dialogue with the folks there on how they can all work together to make a positive, lasting partnership as opposed to a traditional charity or philanthropy relationship.

Oh yeah, almost forgot- I PLAYED A THERAMIN!!! A kind man brought, set up, and shared his theramin with everyone after the event, upstairs in the back. Cam, Serge, and I all played it for a while, and Serge actually made some sweet musical beats on it.

And I got to dress snappy, and eat a delicious Philly steak (no Wiz, thanks) from a food truck.
Mood: extremely happy.

Finally, this (thanks Harmony).

So last week the Supreme Court basically struck down the McCain-Feingold Act, a weak law aimed at campaign finance reform (good intentions); the law limited corporate spending on election candidates. In the court's majority opinion it claims the free speech of the companies wishing to influence elections is violated. Companies were granted some of the same rights as individuals by the Supreme Court in 1886 [more on this here], but this decision truly solidifies the corporate personhood argument.

Being that corporations are immortal- they cannot be tortured or executed, and they can attain VAST supplies of capital and resources- more money than any individuals and for a company like GE or Boeing, even more than many of the world's economies.

And now, singular companies are given the same protection as each of the people that work for and make up the company. You can bet the media and advertising industries are jumping for joy- with endless access to capital, the big corporations will be doing everything they can to influence elections- including record numbers of ad buys. Billboards, TV spots, and bus-stop benches are about to get a lot more costly for small business owners as the Big Guns buy up everything they can in order to steer the public eyes, minds, and dollars in the directions they desire.

I am really riled up about this. (Can you tell??) If it lights a fire in you, you should definitely check out radio show/podcast: Common Sense. A lot of this is discussed in the most recent episode, Money Talks.

OK, hope to update again before 2011. Maybe the next one will be a little less political in nature, but I'm starting to wonder whether I may be alive to see the next American Revolution.


Oh yea, also, I'm currently on Week 5 (of 6!) of this.

And also book plug: You Are Not A Gadget by Jaron Lanier
Can't say enough good things about this manifesto; it's a relevant, techno/anthropological book (about the relationship between computers and human beings) written by a punk computer scientist who coined the term "virtual reality."